Stornoway opens the new year with a single like a “Knock to the Head” — Where’s this been all our lives?

I’m still wrapping my head around this astonishing new single from Stornoway, a band fully capable of dominating the pop music landscape any time they dare pick up an instrument. “Knock Me on the Head” announces the band’s upcoming album Tales from Terra Firma in grand style, with an epic instrumental intro melded to an all-in melodic pop single you’ll be singing all year.

You hung an albatross around my neck
When you needed to knock me on the head
And say “No! No! No! No!”

This is what great music can be when a band’s willing to push pop conventions beyond what we’ve been brought to expect. It’s refreshing to see that a band can pick up where an album as stunning as Beachcomber’s Windowsill left off and find ways to avoid that dreaded sophomore slump. This song is the perfect knock to the head needed at the start of a new year to remain vigilant, in search of pop music which can be more than just mere fluff. Though it’s way too early to start crafting “Best of 2013” lists, Tales from Terra Firma tops my list of “must hear” albums.